TechPhonics very proudly presents an absolute icon of electronic music, Detroit techno legend and pioneer - get ready for a solid workout with the official ambassador of techno music – the one and only DERRICK MAY. This is a strictly limited capacity event - no more than 200 tickets to experience DERRICK MAY for three hours...

Tickets are on sale for $30 + fees from www.venuetix.com.au or direct from Matt Abstrax or Devious. We highly recommend you get your ticket ASAP as this event will sell out.

Derrick May - If one name crops up again and again in discussions of techno, it is that of Derrick "Mayday" May. Alongside Juan Atkins, Carl Craig and Kevin Saunderson, May is regarded as one of the kings of the Detroit sound. Inspired by Yello and Kraftwerk, he began to make electronic music with Atkins and Saunderson while studying with them at Belleville High, Detroit. Recording either as Mayday or Rhythim Is Rhythim (occasionally in conjunction with Carl Craig) and generally on his own Transmat Records label, he went on to carve out a new vein in dance music that synthesized the advances of the electro movement with the more challenging end of the House movement - a music that defined "techno".

Detroit Techno landlord and head of the internationally respected Transmat Records, Derrick May continues to move dancefloors with his no-nonsense Techno grooves. One third of the Belleville Three, this electronic legend arranges classic Detroit tracks in a timeless fashion: frantically beat-heavy yet soulfully warm. Nervous beats and breaks pound away at curvy synths and digital melodies that stand in the background of these vibesome grooves like an electric scalloped fence surrounding a celebrity's home. Confident rhythms charge at your chest through an invisible spiderweb of string samples holding your consciousness captive on the dancefloor.

Derrick May is one of the founding fathers of Detroit techno, a precursor of its many variants and particularly of acid house. His eastethic, skeletal, melancholy style gained him the nickname of "the Miles Davis of techno". He introduced both a psychological element and a futuristic vision in dance music. Utilising the familiar bass sounds with ever more complex beats, flange effects, twisting
chords and deep strings, May produced a catalogue of music that pushed the boundaries of what could be accomplished with electronic sound ever further apart. To many, the techno of Detroit is very much ingrained within the character and history of the City itself. A City that was isolated from the rest of America, with a downtown area in financial and architectural ruin, a deteriorating motor industry and the reputation of it being the 'murder capital' of America, Detroit, on the outset, seemed a desolate and empty place. In reality there was a spirit and soul there that lived on in the City's urban communities from its glory days and its great musical heritage. This mixture of coldness and warmth, desolation and soul, was perfectly represented by May's Techno experiments.

Join us for a very special night with this iconic figure of the electronic music world, and a firm Adelaide favourite who last visited our City in 2007, straight out of Detroit USA, the one and only DERRICK MAY!

Derrick May has been an international phenomenon ever since he revolutionized the British club scene in the ‘80s. His music and artistry helped create the modern day clubscape. Along with Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson they are known as “The Belleville Three” and are universally credited as the originators of Techno. His seminal hits “Strings of Life” and “Nude Photo” are two examples of his work that took Detroit Techno and launched it across the globe to be emulated and embraced by DJs worldwide (and also earned him the moniker “The Innovator”). Transmat, the label Derrick founded in the mid ‘80s, was a launch pad for artists such as Carl Craig, Juan Atkin’s Model 500, Stacey Pullen, Kenny Larkin and Joey Beltram to name a few.

Derrick May has been an international phenomenon ever since he revolutionized the British club scene in the ‘80s. His music and artistry helped create the modern day clubscape. Along with Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson they are known as “The Belleville Three” and are universally credited as the originators of Techno. His seminal hits “Strings of Life” and “Nude Photo” are two examples of his work that took Detroit Techno and launched it across the globe to be emulated and embraced by DJs worldwide (and also earned him the moniker “The Innovator”). Transmat, the label Derrick founded in the mid ‘80s, was a launch pad for artists such as Carl Craig, Juan Atkin’s Model 500, Stacey Pullen, Kenny Larkin and Joey Beltram to name a few.

Have fun everyone. Derrick's awesome. I caught him in the warehouse at Nation in Liverpool many moons ago, and he's amazing.

I can't go to this one (I wish I could), but to get you in the mood here's a link to a recent Detroit and Chicago techno mix on my soundcloud page. It's harmonically mixed, nice and fast and downloadable.

Apparently I can't insert hyperlinks for a couple of weeks after joining inthemix (anti-spam efforts you see), so to defeat the system, I'll paste the address of my soundcloud page here, but with the '.' replaced with a space, so you can copy it into your browser and re-insert the '.'. Here it is:

Since you guys have the first leg for this tour I want to hear plenty of reports!

Quote:

I don't go to be in the VIP area.. I don't need big breaks, a big song with a buildup and lights and smoke.. all you need is a kickdrum and a good bassline. You don't need any of that other shit. Na, I'm not going for none of those reasons.. I'm just going for the music.

Wicked set by Derrick - incredibly friendly guy too. He really enjoyed the gig and said he loves Adelaide, loves playing, and loves intimate club gigs like the one we shared last night.

To all those who came to the door and were turned away, I apologise, we only had 25 tickets saved for the door and we 24 of those people lining up pre-10pm, and the last one went 10 mins later. Probably turned away about 100 people because we were at full capacity.

I thought Derrick played a wicked set - he works it like no other dj I've seen before. Impeccable track selection too...

Wow, sooo good. Perfect track selection. Just the right amount of classics thrown in, but so many tunes I've never heard of, and probably will never find/ID. Worked the crowd better than his reputation to do so. Soulful, melodic, banging Hi-Tek-Soul indeed! Thanks to all who came out, especially the interstaters, this sure will be a night to remember.

Absolute cracker of night. Had an absolute blast, the man knows how to rock a club and was getting so involved, was cool having it in such an intimate venue as well. Loved his track selection very cool from beginning to end and he works the mixer like i've never seen or heard before.
Mate and I were a couple of the younger ones there, the crowd was top notch and very friendly, nice to see everyone there for the music and lapping it up to. Younger generation of clubbers could definitely take a leaf out of their book.
Well run night by Techponics, looking forward to the next time he's in Adelaide.

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Great night! Really enjoyed Derrick's set. Played a nice variety of sounds and knew when to take it down a few notches, then bring it back up again. It was good being up close watching him work the mixer and interacting with the crowd.

Yeah was an awesome set for sure. That said in the 6 times i have seen Derrick play he has always been excellent. I totally agree if there would some more of the younger crew there they would have been amazed at his skills

Yeah me and my mate were chatting to a guy who had grandchildren, top bloke and was absolutely loving it. He was right at the front near the DJ booth by the end of Derrick's set. The older crew can move as well, I've never seen Electric heaving like that, the whole dancefloor was grooving the whole time and there was always room to move, it was cool to see.

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